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Gujarat’s CCTV blind spots turn a 100-km kidnapping chase into a 48-hour hunt
Developing
In Short: Gujarat police launched a 48-hour hunt for a suspect accused of kidnapping a child from Mota Ankadiya village in Amreli district. The investigation began with the name of a suspect and the make and number of his motorcycle.
The chase covered over 100 kilometers, with police vehicles intercepting the suspect's motorcycle in Virpur, Rajkot district. Footage from the district-level 'Netram' CCTV command and control centre in Amreli showed the motorcycle heading west from Mota Ankadiya towards Kunkavav.
Police reviewed footage from 172 CCTV cameras and several private cameras to piece together the suspect's route across two districts. However, they faced challenges at forks, crossings, and blind spots, and struggled to access private camera footage.
The hunt highlighted the need for a more integrated CCTV system. The Gujarat government recently announced a hackathon inviting over 1,000 entities to develop a tech solution to integrate more than 1.8 lakh CCTV cameras into a single system across the state.
The current CCTV network outside major cities and towns remains sparse, with gaps in surveillance coverage. The intention is to address these issues and improve the efficiency of tracking vehicles across the state.
The hackathon aims to streamline the process of accessing and integrating CCTV footage, making it easier for police to track suspects and respond to emergencies.
What's still developing
- When they began the investigation, police had the name of a suspect, and the make and number of his bike allegedly used in the kidnapping.
- Soon after dawn on September 8, a Gujarat Police vehicle ground to a halt directly in front of a Hero Splendor motorcycle in the pilgrimage town of Virpur in Rajkot district, cutting off the path of the vehicle.
- Jamre had allegedly kidnapped the child 48 hours earlier from Mota Ankadiya village in Amreli district, more than 100 km away.
- Outside the boundaries of major cities and towns, the network of public-facing CCTV cameras under the VISWAS (Video Integration and State Wide Advanced Security) project and surveilled through the ‘Trinetra’ command and control centre at the state level and the 34 ‘Netram’ sites in the districts, remains non-existent or spotty.